burn
by helium lost
Summary: “Azula is a tyrant, a dictator, and she wants everyone to fall beneath her commands, to get on their knees and beg for her to accept them and love them.” Seven Azula–centric drabbles based on the seven deadly sins.


**burn**  
. helium lost .

**Author's Notes:** Written for the 7-deadly-sins- challenge at Livejournal. Also, there is no legal drinking age in China, and seeing how the Avatar universe is based on China and Asia, I've decided to let that carry over. Anyway, there are no doubt things that I could've written better here, so leave some feedback and concrit, eh? ;)

**Warning:** If you want to read it as such, then there's touches of incest (Azula's feelings for Ozai), but it's not really obvious. Also, I didn't write it with character death in mind, but some of you may read it that way.

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**I. Greed**

Azula was screaming her lungs out when she was born, as if the sudden light was destroying her and sending her into the depths of the purest pain. The doctor had just smiled and told Ursa that she had a _very_ healthy baby on her hands, and to keep her eye on her and make sure she didn't get into trouble.

Ozai entered soon afterward, and once he picked up the baby and held her in his arms, she quieted immediately, and giggled and cooed as she reached up and touched his face, grabbed at his ears. Ozai's face still remained fairly cold and stoic, but a glitter flew into his eyes as a small smile touched his lips.

Since then, Azula wanted her father for herself, and _only_ herself. When she cried, she refused to stop unless Ozai came and held her as her mother looked on, exasperation in her eyes. And she grabbed every chance she could get to have Ozai's attention, shoving Zuko out of the way and wooing the crowd with her firebending abilities, gaining herself a rare smile from her father, one she could see despite the flames behind him casting shadow onto his face.

She keeps those smiles close to her heart, and in her pursuit of her brother and the Avatar, she can only think of how pleased he'll be when she hands them to him, and how big his smile will be.

**II. Gluttony**

Roasted duck—preferrably fat, plump, and juicy—is Zuko's favorite, and Azula knows it.

"Zuko, here!" Azula chirps, holding out the last piece of duck between her chopsticks to him, the oils glistening on its crisp skin. Zuko looks at her suspiciously, then at the duck, examining it as if he's looking for a microscopic disease.

"What did you do to it?" he asks, and Azula laughs.

"Nothing, nothing. Just open your mouth and say 'ahh'!"

Zuko, finally convincing himself that there's nothing wrong with the duck, opens his mouth, and Azula leans over to put the piece in as his eyes watch, but at the last instant, Azula whips her hand away and pops the duck into her own mouth, savoring its taste as she giggles at the stunned expression on Zuko's face.

**III. Wrath**

Azula has never been a calm person; there's no doubt about it. With her latest failed attempt to capture the Avatar, she's stomping around the room, spitting mad and cursing Katara, Sokka, and Toph, saying that they're mere amateurs and are _nothing_ compared to a highly-experienced Fire Princess, saying that they should have no _ability_—no, no _right_—to stop her and get in her way.

Mai and Ty Lee look on. Mai is wise enough to keep to herself during Azula's temper tantrums, but Ty Lee hesitantly pipes up and comments that there _was_ a slight flaw in their plan, that they shouldn't have—

But Azula just turns and sends a jet of flame at Ty Lee, setting her hair on fire and scorching her face.

The next time Azula has a temper tantrum, Ty Lee knows to keep quiet, and Mai nods at her almost unnoticeably, understanding and rare sympathy in her eyes.

**IV. Sloth**

Azula's not lazy—she's never been—but she doesn't do whatever she feels is unnecessary.

It's for this reason that Ty Lee finds herself washing Azula's dirty clothes in addition to her own. Mai is silently scrubbing at her own clothes beside Ty Lee, trying to get out the mud stains and other unidentifiable marks. Ty Lee sighs—Mai's clothing is dark, and hides most stains, while hers are a light pink, and the stains are hard to scrub out completely.

"Azula," Ty Lee calls out from the bathroom, exasperated, "can't we just take these to the cleaner? I mean, it's just downstairs."

Azula reclines on the bed, examining her nails, and says, "No, I don't think so." She doesn't offer a reason, though Ty Lee knows that she'd have many excuses up her sleeve, all hiding the _real_ reason: she just wants to watch Ty Lee suffer.

Ty Lee sighs as she continues to scrub. A moment later, Mai offers to wash half of Azula's clothes, and Ty Lee throws her arms around her, a grateful smile on her face.

**V. Envy**

Azula takes up any challenge, anywhere, because she knows that she can win, and because she has to prove to herself that she's better, or else fall into the clutches of the green-eyed monster of jealousy.

That night, the girls stop at a bar for a quick rest. Ty Lee orders a watermelon juice and Mai a cup of water, while Azula continues to look over the menu, playing with her hair.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a woman with long, black hair sitting next to them, downing glass after glass of an amber-colored substance that Azula recognizes immediately as beer. Azula smirks—she's always wanted to try it, and seeing how there's nothing stopping her, she orders one, and downs it quickly as Ty Lee and Mai watch, amused.

Azula finds the taste a little worse than she expected, but not something she can't tolerate. She orders another, keeping her eye on the woman, who looks up and smirks at her, accepting the unsaid challenge. It goes back and forth between them, one downing a glass after the other, until Azula finds herself red in the face, babbling to Mai and Ty Lee, who don't know whether or not to risk laughing.

Azula picks up another glass, then tries to swallow it down, but ends up spitting it out again, as the stranger downs the glass as easily as if it were water.

"Don't mess with the best, girl," she says, then gets up and walks away, laughing.

**VI. Lust**

Azula is never one to bother herself with boys (her father the only one she _really_ wants, anyway), so she finds it a bit of a surprise when he feels heat blossoming as she glances at this pathetic Freedom Fighter, tied up and gagged at her feet.

"Don't ever think of trying to get in our way again," Azula hisses, and he strains and thrashes against his restraints. Azula laughs—he should've been born a Firebender; he has the spirit and the energy to be one. Then, on impulse, she leans down and kisses him, nipping at his lips as he protests against his gag, but she notices the occasional groan that manages to slip through.

Then, she breaks the kiss and kicks him over, leaving him to lie restrained in the dust as she gets on her mongoose-dragon and leads the way into the heart of the forest, Ty Lee and Mai following close behind.

**VII. Pride**

Azula is a tyrant, a dictator, and she wants everyone to fall beneath her commands, to get on their knees and beg for her to accept them and love them. But this little boy—urged by his friends, who are lying, collapsed, on the ground, scattered around him like flies—no, he _refuses_ to bow to her, despite his fatigue, despite his weariness. Instead, his rage flares up and he is enveloped by a whirling ball of wind and light, and he lashes out at her.

Some part of her mind registers that he is killing her, so simply as if he's just pushing her out of the way, but her pride simply won't let her accept it as she shoots lightning and fire at him, then collapses.

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**Author's Notes:** Feed a starving author and leave some feedback ;)


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